Trumpeter 1/35 Jagdpanzer E-100

Here's the contents of the box (minus the PE grilles for the engine deck) 

I'll be replacing the tracks with a metal set. 

The road wheels have a significant mould line around the rims. Three evenings of sanding...
There was also some flash on the back of the end caps that fit over the ends of the axles. 

The suspension went together easily. 

The bottom of the spring units had a mould line which needed removing. 

Dry fitting of the wheels. All went together easily. Holding those bolt-studded wheels to sand them has caused permanent nerve damage to my finger & thumb by the feel of it! 

The side armour ends are made of two pieces. I expect you would get sink marks if they made it as a single piece. The joint needs work and I think it should have a rough cut end, not smooth as it seems to be intended. 

Top of the front. 

Underside of the front. 

There was a fair bit of flash around the eyelets at each end. 

One issue I can foresee is fitting the upper & lower hull sections together, The sides are very long with no location method provided. I'm tempted to make a bulkhead, much like the firewall between the engine & crew section to support the middle section of the hull. 

A quick test fit shows it goes together well, but getting the sides positioned right along the whole length might not be so easy. 

The front end goes together well. See what I mean about the rough ends being needed for the side armour parts? 

The rear plate has the rough edge on it's top end, but a couple of sprue connection points spoils the effect somewhat. 

OUCH! Good job I know why superglue was invented! Well, I was going build the exhausts, but that's not going to happen tonight. Too much blood to clean up in the bathroom. 

While test fitting the doors on the rear of the superstructure, I noticed that the hinges needed reshaping, otherwise the doors could never open. The unmodified one is on the left and the corrected one on the right. The opening needed a bit of sanding at the top to allow the doors to rest in the correct closed position. The faces of the doors that meet in the middle had to be sanded back a little too. 

The ends of the side armour have been given a good coat of Mr Surfacer. 

Once it has dried, I used a wire brush to scratch it up & simulate the correct ground finish. 

Whether the paint will fill the fine gouges or not remains to be seen 

I may have to add a bit more filler & redo as the joint between the parts is still visible. 

Test fit of the top & bottom halves after fixing the rear armour to both upper and lower parts. The fit seems a little better now that is a bit less flexible. 

Rear deck and superstructure well on the way. 

The rough ends have been given more Mr Surfacer and roughened with the wire brush again. Now looks much better, I think. Maybe needs another few passes of the brush on the very end. 

Test fitting the gun assembly. It all went together quite well. Hopefully, I've got the seam right on the barrel! 

The muzzle brake needs the holes drilling out, but there are pilot holes in the part already. Slide moulding can only take you so far! 

Just about ready for a coat of primer tomorrow. Then I'll probably spend next week correcting all the issues that will be show up by that. Failing that, I might get the base coat of dunkelgelb done. Note the fixing points for the armoured side skirts. They are not a great fit, so I'm going to use 1.5mm brass rod to add a strong core to the fixings. (Not that I have that size yet). I didn't need to build an interior bulkhead after all. Things became a bit more rigid when the rear of the hull and superstructure were fitted. 

Okay, it's yellow. Now what? Well, I'll leave it to cure until tomorrow. There are a few bits of touching up to do here & there. I've not yet decided what camo scheme to go for. I've also got a set of tracks to build. 

Side skirts fitted. 

I've managed to make them removable... 

...by using 1.5mm brass tube and drilling out the sides of the hull. Now I can do the camo pattern without any of the running gear fitted. 

Prep work on the commanders periscopes. 

Black wash around the suspension (which probably won't be visible) 

The deck's awash! 

Next step for the periscopes is a silver coat. 

The PE grills have been fitted and given a first coat of dunkelgelb. 

Spade Ace E-100 tracks (SAT-35143). This track set seems to have a LOT of short shots, so many that there are not enough extra parts in the box to avoid having to use some of the faulty ones. The worst offender didn't even have the spade on the end of the track link. I wouldn't recommend them if you can find an alternative. 

If you thought I'd given up on this build, I hadn't. I've been busily building up this lot. 

Filing, drilling, test fitting, dropping it, crawling under the table with a torch, reassembling, cutting the wire, wangling the wire in, bending the end link, fixing it, applying CA. End each session with very sore dark grey fingers. Repeat for a fortnight until done. Why do I love doing this again? 

Weathered wheels. Once they are fully dry, I will do the rims. 

The first coat of camo green is done. I used Humbrol 252 diluted with Acrylic Doctor, applied with a brush. 

It seems to have worked out okay. The Acrylic Doctor works as a leveller. greatly reducing the occurrance of brush marks, especially if you apply multiple thin coats as I'm doing 

A second coat of green looks better. 

The Rotbraun coat is on 

I might have left a bit more dunkelgelb showing than the painting guide indicates, but I think I'm closer to the original intent of the painting directions of the time. 

If it looks a bit patchy, that's because it's not dry yet. 

The wheels have had the rims prepared with chipping colour. Steel pigment will be rubbed on them to give the polished look. 

I couldn't resist a quick test fit of the wheels. 

The gunners periscope is unmasked and the paint touched up. 

Rusting of the exhausts. The covers still have to go over them. I managed to detach one exhaust while removing the making tape. 

It's now been coated in AK semi-gloss ready for weathering. I've added most of the bells & whistles too. The dunkelgelb base was done using AK's Real Colours spray can. The headlamp was hand painted from a jar of the same paint. Although it doesn't show too well in the photo, the colours are very different. The jar has a more beige tone than the sprays yellow. 

I bet I'll be pushing washes & pigments around it from now until Christmas. You can see the colour tone contrast better on the right most towing eyelet. I think a bit of dirt will hide that. 

How do you like the diorama? Snow has been forecast for the last few days, but the local council didn't bother to grit the roads. I've just been out to get petrol. They didn't have any. 

The first go with the panel liner is done. I'll tidy it up tomorrow. 

The filter (Mig Tan for tritonal camo) has been applied, as had some dust around the running gear and sides. 

The AAMG is test fitted. 

The next step will be chipping. I don't intend doing too much of that as I intend this to be a relatively new vehicle. 

After that, decals, then another coat of semi-gloss, then it gets a bit more dirt. 

The tracks also need burnishing. I've masked the strips where the road wheels polish them, but I think I'll need to get more burnishing fluid first! These tracks are rather large. 

There are no externally mounted tools on this vehicle, which is unusual. There are some included in the kit, though, so you can add them if you want. 

The decals are on. The usual micro-sol & micro-set got them down well. I've done the chipping and a few fuel/oil stains on the engine deck too. 

Another semi-gloss coat will seal what I've done so far. Then I'll do some streak marks when that's dry. It's getting on with the tracks that's the issue at the moment. I'm waiting for more burnishing fluid to arrive. I'm surprised some enterprising company hasn't made a track burnishing tool. What's needed is a plastic bowl divided up into concentric pools of varying diameters. You drop your tracks into the correct diameter pool and just fill that pool with the fluid. Much more economic use of the expensive liquid!  

One coat of semi-gloss later... 

I'm still waiting for the burnishing fluid to arrive. I paid extra for next day delivery. That was two days ago. 

I'll add some dirt pigment around the suspension, plus some grease stains. 

I've finally found some better lighting! A 650mm daylight LED clamp lamp which I can position right over where I'm working. 

The wheels have been rubbed with dark steel pigment. The muzzle brake has had some smoke added. 

The MG has been rubbed with gunmetal pigment over a black base. 

It's taken 2 bottles of burnishing fluid to cover these huge tracks. Unfortunately, there were a lot of air bubbles in the recesses. Despite spending around 2-1/2 hours trying to get rid of them, they just wouldn't go. So I've spent another afternoon today painting burnishing fluid into the holes with a small brush. I may be able to straighten up in a couple of days. 

One coat of dust wash later, light soil pigment around the suspension, plus the hoist has been added. Note that this is not a good fit as the mounting pins on the hoist do not account for the slope if the armoured side of the vehicle! 

I'll add a few water marks, then it's a coat of matt varnish. 

The varnish will tone down the dust coat, which always looks overdone to begin with. 

The tracks have had light soil pigment added too. It hasn't quite dried yet, so it isn't very visible in some places. 

Track & wheels added on one side. It's starting to look like a Jagdpanzer now. 

I'm standing it upright to set so it all settles into place correctly. I fitted the idler first, then wound the track around the drive sprocket. Next was a dry fit to make sure it all looked okay. Then I fitted the track around the idler and cemented the drive sprocket in place. The inner wheels were added, then the outer set. It all looks to have gone together well. 

And here's the other track set fitted. It's a beast of a vehicle! I did give the tracks a rub with dark steel pigment along the treads, but I think most of it ended up on me! 

With the tracks on, you could get fit just from lifting it to work on it. 

The barrel is now fixed in place and the cover put over the drivers periscope. The paintwork needs blending in on that. I've also fitted the tracks better along the top of the wheels. You have to be careful as it would be easy to break the idler wheel off. 

Once the AAMG is fitted, the whole will get a final matt coat. That should see it complete. 

Okay, I can't resist putting the side armour on. 

When it's done, I'll take some final shots in daylight. 

The finished item at last! Here's a few shots in daylight, without side skirts. 

And a few more shots with full armour. I need a bigger window sill.